Help! Am in agony with engorged boobs after stopping breastfeeding!

[dairycow]

Hi I gave up breastfeeding about four days ago, after cutting down to two feeds per day, (early morning and late at night)a few weeks back. I am finding it absolute agony with the pain,and am findng it v. hard to even give baby a cuddle. Anyone any advice - when will it get better? (No don't think it is mastitis, - no symptoms of this.) Many thanks

When I was painfully engorged I found that standing under a hot shower with a hot flannel on my breasts helped. You might need to hand-express a little bit just to relieve the pressure - IIRC engorgement can lead to mastitis.

Hopefully someone who knows a bit more than me will be along soon!

Hi thanks for your replys. I was feeding my baby roughly 8 times per day, and after 5 months of exclusive breastfeeding finally managed to get her to accept a cup during the day. When I cut down, I found this to be no problem, well a bit of engorgement, but no way as bad as this. I just, (wrongly),assumed that as I was only doing two feeds per day that it wouldn't be too bad. I know that this isn't probably the ideal way to stop, but I want/need to stop bf now, and it has taken me months to get my DD to take a cup - (absolutely won't touch a bottle with a bargepole!), and fear that going back will send mixed messsages. Also, if I express will it take ages for my milk to dwindle seeing as I was only feeding twice per day? thanx